#Chapter 14: Best Friends Hangouts
Third Person's POV
Beth's social life had expanded wider than ever. She began to go out with friends more often. Being used to keep to herself, it was definitely a different feeling for the blonde. When she was around her new, non-acquaintances, she felt an empty void inside she never knew existed, exquisitely disappear.
But as it became whole, came another churning sensation deep in her gut. She wasn't supposed to be so comfortable being close to anyone. She was warned countless times. And here she was, now in a clique
Speaking of which, the group changed the name once more. Now 'The Big Eight'. It had already been five months since then and the gang couldn't imagine things any other way. Inviting Beth to the group were one of the best decisions the group thought they made
Rapunzel loved to share her secrets with the girl since Beth was good it keeping them. Unlike Anna. The strawberry blonde really did try her best to keep her lips zipped, but that's just not how she rolled. Give her two days and by then the entire campus would know
Due to being in the same group, Beth and Jack grew closer to the point of them becoming best friends, despite her a student and he a teacher.
Merida was glad to have someone to share her interests in archery with. The redhead gave her lessons whenever the two had the time
And Hiccup was great to work homework with. The two casually had fun discussing about books and complain about how underrated/overrated some were.
As much fun Beth was having with her new pals, there was always that sore spot strong and sickening inside. Her throat lumped every time she laughed or groaned at her friends' jokes. She could almost hear her sensei's words hissing at her ear. Beth would even turn her neck right and left to search for a tall shadow of her sensei, only to find smiles and the bright eyes of The Big Eight. She curled her trembling fingers, expecting them to disappear into a pool of blood or a gush of wind. But they didn't. They were there. And that gave her strength
'Psh, breaking the rules once in a while is not that bad these days, right?' she would always think
College was over for the day. Beth pushed her door close and went to change. She felt creative after looking over Rapunzel's sketches she showed to her, and decided to do some herself. She was bored with nothing else to do anyway.
She sharpened a pencil and unwrapped a fresh new eraser. Slipping out an empty sketchbook from her bag she recently bought, she sat down her bed and began sketching.
She began with the shape of a face. Sharpened the eyes. Erased a falsely hooked nose. The curves of lips. Before cleanly brushing it all with the colors of blue, brown, and shadowed them with many other shades of colors
Beth wiped off sweat from her forehead before lifting both arms to see her work
Then it hit her...
'How the heck did I end up drawing him?! Ugh, my mind's not thinking straight.' she thought with frustration. She shrugged it off and kept her newly made sketch in a folder.
She laid down her bed, her head straight up the ceiling. Bored again, she pulled out her phone and lazily tapped her password.
She checked over her notifications and tapped a tab which alerted that she had a new message
"Sup Beth! Hey, can you come to my house? It's pretty important."
-Jack-
She pulled a pair of jeans up her legs and sported a black shirt. She filled her bag with a book and a set of pens. She grabbed her wallet before heading out the door and asked Tadashi if she could borrow his car. The young man nodded at her request and gave her his keys. Letting Beth to drive the vehicle towards Jack's house
Thirty minutes later...
Beth slowed the car in front of a grandly built mansion. She took a moment to admire the well and modern architecture before stopping in front of a man beside the gates, must be the security. Beth rolled the car closer and asked for him to let her pass
"Apologies miss, but we haven't received a message of a young lady like you to-" the security began, but was cut off.
"Leave her, Dan. I asked her to come over on short notice," Jack's voice was heard. His own casually dressed body approached them. Dan nodded and opened the gates, allowing Beth to drive through.
She parked her car and went out. "Thanks for that. So, what's the important matter?"
"My mom told me clean the attic and shuffle through some old stuff. I don't want to do it all alone, so I asked you for company," he said as he ran a finger through his hair.
"Really? Wow, you made my day," Beth sighed. Jack chuckled and placed a hand on her shoulder. "We're partners in crime, no?" he said with a smirk
"Yeah, whatever. Come on, the quicker we do, the quicker we're done," Beth said. Jack lead the girl, or dragged rather, to the attic
Beth's POV
Geez! Really?!
The attic had it's own floor. Cobwebbed windows dimmed out sunlight, leaving the room an eerie teal glow. Crates stacked each other under cloaks. Shelves full of nick-nacks leaned against the broad walls. And apparently, there weren't enough. Even more objects cluttered the floor in lazy patterns. In one, they were all very well kept by dust bugs. I coughed as I entered deeperI took a feather duster from Jack's hand and immediately began cleaning.
I began with the feisty webs since they were an eyesore. Jack emptied the shelves one by one and rubbed the objects clean with a wet cloth. Afterwards, we swept the floor and rummaged over the things.
As I carry some big brown boxes out the attic, I felt my foot suddenly in harsh contact with a solid object, and my head hitting something hard. I put the box down in search of the thing that I bumped into
And I found it. It was a medium-sized box painted with a baby pink color that slightly faded due to age. It was sealed with a pink ribbon which sealed it shut. There's a yellowed, old piece of paper written in old calligraphy:
Open this when you reached nineteen
-M-
I guessed it belonged to Anna's or Jack's other sister from the girly color of the box, I forgot who her name was. But the box, and the letter summoned a kind of thought that fought to my mind, but I didn't know what it was. It was blurry and all blue.
I put the box back, not interested in it any longer.
I lifted another box that was quite heavier than the last. I opened the trunk and enormous lumps of clothes exploded out. I was smacked with many victorian ballgowns yet to be separated from their petticoats. Though in good conditions, they weren't immune enough against time. The colors dulled. I raised one that caught my eye slightly higher, careful not to get attacked by the skirt once more. It was an off the shoulder dress. The layered skirt resembling an upside down rose
"That one belonged to my great grandmother," Jack said as he wiped the cap of an old decorative lamp
"This dress has got to be pretty old then. Does your family still use it?"
"Nah, not anymore. Maybe we can just contribute those to a museum," Jack suggested. I putting the gown back in the place. I locked the trunk and moved along to the next...
A while later, we were all done sorting out the objects in proper crates, shelves, and other storages. We stacked up the trunks, placed the trinkets in order, and threw the cloak over the neatly put crates.
"Wooh! That was exhausting," Jack huffed. I breathed an agreement
"What are you gonna do with these?" I asked, pointing to a few more objects yet to be decided on what to be done of. It consisted of toys and antiques
"How about we donate the toys to orphans? I know an orphanage."
"Do you visit them often?"
"What can I say? I love kids," he joked as he pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose. We loaded the things in his car before going in ourselves, driving out of his mansion
Third Person's POV
The two stopped in front of a museum. Jack told Beth to stay inside as he went out and disappear behind the museum's doors. The young man admired the high ceilings that hung a luxurious, victorian chandelier at the centre. The piece of light making the entrance seem like a ballroom. Jack walked his long legs down the carpet floors to the guest table.
"Good afternoon sir, can I help you?" a lady who seemed to be in her twenties asked
"I'd like to see the manager please," Jack requested in a charmingly polite tone.
"Do follow me." The woman escorted Jack to the manager;s office. She knocked on the door and went inside. A minute later, she went out
"You may come in," she said, giving a nod before walking away
Jack did as told and met the manager smiling behind a long, polished black stone table. He warmly welcomed him and told him to take a seat on one of the living chairs. They had a small chat and sipped tea.
"Now, I heard that there was something you'd like to speak with me. What may that be?"
"I would like to donate some old victorian styled ball gowns I own. The dresses are purely made from the Victorian Era. I also have a few old antiques. I already have them with me. Would you like to accept?"
"Why, of course," the manager said. The men shook hands and the manager sent a number of staffmen to unload the contributions
After they were done, Jack bid farewell to the manager and went inside his car
"One down one to go," Beth said as they sped away
Jack's POV
We stopped in front of the orphanage I told Beth about. I felt at ease as I looked upon the building, breathing in the warm atmosphere. The rainbow sign at the front. Brick walls under a flat roof. Flower bushes gated around the building. Everything was still the same as I first came here. The day when my family adopted Anna
"I didn't know that there was an orphanage so close to town," Beth said in awe. I smiled at her words. Of course, orphanages were built where they would fade into the background. Otherwise, the town would be overshadowed with pity and wouldn't get as many visitors. But I was amused of her enthusiasm anyway
"My family adopted Anna here," I said softly. Elsa snapped her head to me in shock, as if I screamed the words to her with a mic at the highest volume.
"Anna was adopted? Here?"
"Yeah. She's about ten years old at that time. She was petty depressed since she lost her family. The orphanage spread the news about her, My family took consideration and decided to adopt her. Turns out, Anna wasn't as emotionally ruined when we took her out of this place. She was cheerful and sweet and we all love her," I told her. Elsa stared back with a blank expression, which melt into a small, glad smile
"That's great then" she said. "Now, shall we get outside?"
"We shall." We unbuckled out seat belts and went outside. We carried out a box full of toys and heaved it in. I saw a familiar middle aged lady in her white button-down and yellow skirt that reached her ankles. Her hair aged gracefully into an ivory white. Glasses perched atop the bridge of her nose
"My, Jack? It's been a while!" she greeted with a bright smile. I laid the box down to give her a hug, which she hugged back. We pulled away and it was then that the woman noticed Beth's presence
"Oh! Hello there," she said. "I'm Madison, Madison Matthews. I'm the owner of this orphanage."
"Nice to meet you Mrs. Matthews. I'm Elisabeth Winters, but you can call me Beth. I'm one of Jack's best friends," Beth said as she put the other box down and the two females shook hands.
"Oh, best friends? I thought you two are dating," Mrs. Matthews said.
Beth and I widened our eyes
"WHAT?! NO!" we yelled in perfect sync
"I'm just kidding!" Mrs. Matthews giggled. The teens sighed, not finding it humorous at all.
"So! What brings the both of you here?"
"I got a bunch of toys here. Since my family has no use of them anymore, I thought to donate them for the kids here," I said.
Mrs. Matthews smiled at my offer. "I'll take 'em! The kids would love their new toys! You two can meet them!"
We lifted the box up and followed Mrs. Matthews from behind. We reached a door and the woman opened it to let us through
It was the playground. About thirty kids were there, playing hide and seek. They stopped when they see us and ran to our direction. They seem happy to meet visitors, the big, chubby-cheeked smiles were evident
"Hi Jack! What are you going to give to us today?" a girl with short blonde hair said. Her knees fresh of dirt from crouching behind a bush.
"YEAH! TELL US!" The rest cheered. Mrs. Matthews chuckled at the scene
"Alright guys, alright! I brought you some new toys I used to play with when I was little! I hope y'all like it!" I said. The children cried in excitement
They lined up as Beth and I gave the toys. The children gratefully received it and giggled in joy. Their smiles brighten their innocent eyes, forgetting their loss and despair for they're too young to understand that anyway. Untouchable from the sadness of their reality. That's what I love from kids.
The kids played pretend with one another as they waved their toys around. Running, chasing, and screaming happily with each other. These are the times when I couldn't believe that this was actually an orphanage.
I gestured to Beth that it was time to leave, until a dark-skinned boy tugged the end of her shirt "We want you to play with us! Please stay!" they boy said with puppy eyes. The rest of the children stood still, anxiously waiting our answer.
"Of course we will. What do you want to play?" Beth said gently. The boy smirked towards his friends' directions.
"STAR WARS ROLE PLAY!" they all cheered. They dragged us towards their dorm. We followed them in and some were already in their handmade, cardboard Star Wars costumes. A few others shuffled out the stuff to clear some space.
"What are you two gonna be?" the same boy asked. Beth and I looked at each other, hoping to find answers in each other's eyes. I snapped my fingers as I got an idea
I grabbed a shirt and wrapped a shawl around my head. Beth followed my lead and find things to make her own costume
"Now we're princess Leia!" I declared. The kids chuckled at my outburst
Beth smirked. "No, I'm the true princess Leia!" she proclaimed. She grabbed a white blanket and knotted the corners around her head to make the signature Leia hairstyle. I smirked at her action.
"Lies!" I said. I spotted a paper crown on and end table and took it. "See? Princess right here. I'm wearing a crown."
"No you're not."
"Yes I am."
"No."
"Yes!"
"NO!"
"YES!"
This kept on as we playfully chased each other. The kids laughed at our behavior. Until a kid suddenly yelled.
"CRUMPLED PAPER WAR EVERYBODY!"
We stacked walls of toys and pillows and threw sheets over. We then took out a book and ripped off the pages before scrunching each one into crumpled balls. The boys were on my side while the girls ducked behind Beth.
I aimed to Beth but only hit air. Beth catch my crumpled paper like we were playing catch and threw it back at me. It landed right in my face, my glasses nearly fell off. She laughed sweetly
'Wow, her laugh. I never knew she can laugh like that. It's..cute,' I thought as I smiled at her. She caught it and smiled back.
Some hours later...
The battle ended with the floor sprinkled with crumpled papers. The room looked as if a giant paper helicopter crashed in. We cleaned up the mess. Beth and I did a final Star Wars act before saying our byes. We went to my car and drove off.
"Wow, that was fun," Beth said with a smile. She was still picking up breath from all the running. "Sure was!" I said and grinned back. I was pretty happy that she had a good time
"Thanks Jack."
"For what?"
"For taking me here. This is the first time I've felt what joy, happiness, what all those feel like," she said. I widened my eyes at her. I never thought that she could say such adorable things. But that had me thinking.
'She never felt happy before?'
Beth seemed to just realize what she said.
"Ju-just...forget it. I..I sometimes talk kahoozits. I mean...I'm not making any sense," she stammered. I nodded, but I was still curious.
"Uh, Jack? Could you help me with something? There's this computer formula I don't understand. But I need to since tomorrow's, you know, the test," she said.
I grinned. "Sure, I'd love to," I said as we walked in my house.
Beth's POV
I sat on Jack's desk chair as he thoroughly taught me. I listened to him carefully so I won't make any mistakes with the formulas and results.
"Hey Beth, you wanna drink or something? You hadn't had any since you got here," Jack offered.
"Yeah, that would be nice. Thanks," I agreed.
"Wait here then." He got out and went out the door
I felt albeit bored after the lesson. My nerves itched. I couldn't sit still.
I sighed and decided to look at a few of Jack's photos on the wall. They're bigger than your average photos so it's not my fault that they're so eye-catching.
There was young Jack smiling with braces. One with him at a beach, his legs buried in sand to look as if he had a merman tail. One where he wore a pink costume in shame with Anna laughing at him, probably a dare. Him and his sisters. Two family photos.
There was one frame that caught my attention. It stood out from the restIt was a white photo frame, but instead of framing a photo, there was a baby blue ribbon tied into a bow. Bellow was an elegant calligraphy written 'To My Little Snowflake'. But I could never be sure since it was slightly blurry. I peered closer. Right then, I realized something.
"Great, I forgot to use my eye drops.'
I pulled out a small bottle from my purse and took off my glasses. I squeezed two drops out and blinked. Gosh, I used too much. My eyes stung and I kept blinking. Tears poured out and I could be mistaken for crying. I tried to rub it off with my hand, but there was too much.I heard a footstep beside me and a hand offering a tissue.
"Here, use this," Jack said. I took it out of his fingers and wiped my tears.
"Why are you crying?" he said in concern. He placed down a glass of water on the table.
"I overused my eye drops," I explained. He nodded as I put my glass back on
"Hey Jack."
"Hm?"
"I was wondering about...well, what's this?" I pointed a finger to the strange framed bow. He just silent, admiring it.
"Wanna hear the story?" I nodded on response
"I was 8 years old. My family and I were going on a trip. We were at the airport and I lost them. I was confused on what to do or where to go so I stood at a pole. People passed and they didn't even look at me since I was probably a mere smudge compared to all the tall people. I couldn't find a glimpse of my parents from all the crowd. All of a sudden, I heard soft crying from the other side of the pole."
'Wait, this story sounds familiar...?'
"I looked behind to see a girl. She was a beautiful young girl. She wore a sky blue lolita dress. Her platinum blonde hair tied into a braid. Her eyes were icy blue and twinkly, like yours," he said, his eyes never leaving me. A smile nostalgic curved his lips.
'Could it be...'
"We became friends at first sight. She shared me the bread she had. She told me she lost her dad in the crowd. She was separated from her family like me. After a while, she spotted her dad, from afar, at least she said that's what he looked to be. She was going to follow him. I tried to stop her because I wanted her to stay beside me, and she could never know if she's following the wrong person. She turned around and told me-" Jack was about to finish until cut off by me.
"Sometimes we have to take risks and do unpredictable things," I said slowly, word by word. I wasn't even looking at him, but I could feel his surprised gaze.
"Before leaving, the girl untied a ribbon that held her braid and gave it to the boy as a farewell gift and disappear into the tall bodies of people, finding her dad," I ended the story.
Jack couldn't decide whether to take a step back or forth, so he stood dumbfounded in his place.
"You...you're that little girl?" he asked, unsure
"Long time no see. You've grown up," I said. Everything pieced together perfectly. A surge rushed through me like an arrow. I remembered. I remembered him.
"You've grown up too. I barely recognized you..." he said as he slowly approached me.
My senses stiffed as he did. His footsteps were disappearing. His legs blended into the room. A red slit across his neck. This was all in my head, but it felt so real. He was getting closer. Closer to me. And he would disappear.
I took an abrupt step back, a hand raised in front of me.
"You know what? I-it's getting late! I..I should really be going home now..." I stuttered frantically. Jack frowned for a second, before forcing a smile. I felt guilty, but glad that he stopped approaching nearer.
"I guess you're right," he said. I quickly put my things in my bag and we went out of his house. I entered my car and drove off, waving back at Jack and he waved back.
I reached my house and immediately returned the keys to Tadashi. I rushed into my room and plopped down my bed
'That was way too close,' I thought, massaging my temples.
Jack's POV
I sat on the edge of my bed, running a hand through my hair.
Anna and Emma were hang out when Beth and I arrived home so I was tease-free.I mused back on my recent discovery
'That's why her face felt so familiar to the girl I loved long ago...' I thought, closing my eyes and continued to progress my brain. I just smiled thinking how beautiful she was now.